I concur with the points given above - but one aspect that does need to be addressed is that whilst one of the couple may be given a work visa for the duration of their employment, the partner is NOT entitled to apply for a dependent's visa on the basis of partnership.

The only way that this can be done is by the couple obtaining letters from their embassies (if both from the same country then one letter should suffice) and that letter must declare that according to the laws of their respective lands that the couple are in a legal 'common law' relationship.

Only when these have been obtained can the sponsoring company obtain the appropriate dependency visa. Without it, the partner will only be entitled to a holiday visa which is usually 90 days, but for some countries can be much less and is not always automatically renewed.

Since the beginning of our project we have been successful in obtaining dependency visas based on these requirements.